Selector relay system



Sept.- 1,, 1936. o. w. LIVINGSTON 2,053,156

I SELECTOR RELAY SYSTEM I Filed Dec. 50, 193;

AAAA! 'VVVV Inventowz OrrinW Livingston,

| At't'owneg.

. Paefitedlsehtfl. 19$ v I 2,053,156,,

ssuic'ron may srs'mu I w. uvmrmn, Schenectady, N. m, assignor :qo Electric Company, a corporation of ew o Appllcation'neoember so, 193:, Serial No. 104,12; 10mm. (01411-353) My invention-relates to selector relay systems, the electric translating devices. The electro-reand more particularly to such systems, for sesponsive devices may themselves produce the delectively energizing one of a plurality of electric sired indication or control, or if desired, there translating devices or relays, in response to a may be provided also a plurality of relay means,

6 plurality of combinations of positions of a plueach of which is operative in response to the op- .l rality o1 el ctor witches. eration of one or more of the electro-responsive a It oftenhappens in the control ofindustrial devices; for example, the electro-responsive deprocesses or operations, that it is desirable to in- I vices may constitute voltage break-down devices, iti'ate a particular one of a plurality of .indesuch as glow tubes and a plurality of these may 10 pendent operations in response to the occurrence be connected in parallel to control the operation 10 of a particular combination of preceding opera or a single electric valve relay. tions, and that different combinations of these For a betterun s o! my invention. preceding operations shall predetermine which gether with other and further objects thereof, of the succeeding operations is initiated. Herereference is had to the following description taken 15 tofore,'there have. bee proposed certain arin' connection with the accompanying drawing, 15. rangements for accomplishing this result by the and its scope will be pointed out-in the appended use or gleam-mechanical relays, either electriclaims. Fig. 1 of the drawing schematically i1- cally or mechanically interlocked. Howevenwhen lustmte's a Selector relay System mbody ng in! any considerable number of primary or secondinvention for selectively operating ones! a pair that STATES. PAT T- OFFICE e operations are involved, such a system inof electric valve relays in response to different 9 valve; the m of an excessive number of such combinations of positions OItWO primary selector gleam-m chanical relays with a o di switches, and Fig. 2 represents schematically one increase in the complexity of th ir uit, d th of the transformers employed in the embodiment well known disadvantagesinherent' in the use of 1 f F gs" electro-mechanical relays. Referring wm r par icularly to the drawa 7 It is an object of my invention, therefore, to ins, there is illustrated a selector relay system provide an improved selector relay system for for s lectively operating eith of a pa r f relays predetermining the initiation of any of number ill or ii in accordance with predetermined comof secondary operations in response to the occurbinations of positions of selector switches l2 and so rence of a predetermined combination or primary h of wh h may have any desired number so operations, which will overcome the above menof positions, althoughI have illustrated the switch tloned disadvantages of the arrangements of'the I! as hav two po itions and the switch It as prior art and which will be simple and reliable'in having three p s t o The selector switch I! operation, r isconnected to selectively energize the tran'sas It is another object of my invention to provide J 'rmer primary windings, A and B from a source 86 an improved selector relay tem 1 initiating of alternating current ll. Associated with the any of a 'numberof secondary operatlonsin rer n f m r w n A' are the secondary w n sponse to the occurrence of a predetermined 1 8s A n A". while the s onda y w di con'ibination oi primary operations. which will 3'. and are associated with the 40 involve the use of a minimum number of elecf r prim ry w n 3- ly. the se 4 ti -mechanical relays and'other moving parts. tor switch ll, controls the energlzation of the In accordance with my invention, there are transformer prim w ss' D and E 9 provided a plurality of groups of electric transvid with s o ry windings D'.D". E 8nd lating devices, such as transformers. for example, 1!", respectively. As indicated in the drawing, the 45. each group being connected-to be energized from secondary windings are arranged in combina- 45 a source of current through. selector switch; tions, or pairs, eachpair comprising a winding that is, a switch for selectively energizing a sinr of the AB transformers and a winding. of the gle. translating device of each group. There are C-D-E transformers, and each pair. comprisalso provided a plurality of electro-responsive deing a diflerent combination of the windings of tic-vices, each of which is operative only upon the these two groups of transformers. to simultaneous energization of one of the 'elec- In series with each pair, or combination, of tric translating devices from each or a plurality v secondary windings B'-E'. A'-E", etc., are conof the groups. the energisation of each electronected the voltage responsive elements i!-ll,'*

device being dated inresponse to inc., which may, for example, be glow tubes of a I'Qfthe energisation of a ailm nt combination or type well known in the art. These glow tubes are It selected with characteristics such that the voltage induced in a single secondary winding is insufficient to cause the tube to break' down and pass a current, while the voltage of two windings connected in series, when both are energized, is sufilcient to efi'ect the operation ofthe particular glow tube. These glow tubes may, of themselves, give the desired indication, or separately initiate the desired controlling operation in response to predetermined positions of the selector switches l2 and i3.

In certain instances, however, it may be desirable that the operation of a plurality of the electroresponsive devices i549, inc., may eflect a single secondary operation. Such a system is disclosed in the drawing in which the group of glow tubes i5, i6 and I1 are connected in parallel through their associated transformer windings to a common resistance element 20, while the glow tubes i8 and it are similarly connected to energize a resistance element 2i. The resistance elements 20 and 2! are included in the control circuits of the electric valves 22 and 23, respectively. The anode-cathode circuits of the electric valves 22 and 23 are energized with the potential across a portion 24 of a voltage divider 24-25 connected across the source of current 3.. The anode-cathode circuits of the electric valves 22 and 23 include the operating coils of the relays i and II which may be connected to initiate any desired operation. The control circuits of the electric valves 22 and 23 include in addition 2 I to the resistance elements 2| and 2|, respectively,

the portion 25 of the voltage divider 24-".

that the selector switch I2 is operated to theposition to energize the primary winding B and selector switch I3 is operated to the position to energize the primary winding C. Under these 3' will be energized as well as the secondary winding C. The only combination, or pair, of

secondary windings, both of which are simul-- taneously energized, is thus the pair B"'-C'. Under these conditions, the glow tube II associated with these windings will break down to impress an alternating potential upon the resistance-element 2i. This alternating potential superimposed upon the bias appearing across the portion 25 of the voltage divider 24-25 is eifective to render conductive the electric valve 23 and thus to energize the relay II to initiate the desired operation. The particular combinations of positions of the selector switches l2 and II which are efl'ective to operate the relays II and Ii may be readily observed by referring to the following table:

Switch 18 Switch 12 u n i1 1o 10 which provides a source of negative bias and, in certain cases, it may be desirable to include conditions, the secondary windings B, B" and l2 and I2, only one of the relays i0 and II is energized.

While my invention is illustrated as applied to a system including only two selector switches and two relays ill and H, together with their associated groups of secondary windings and glow tubes, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that it is equally applicable to a system including any number of selector switches, and any number of groups of relays together with their associated groups of secondary windings.

While I have described what I at present consider the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from my invention, and I, therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

l. A selector relay system comprising a source of current, a plurality of selector switches, associated with each selector switch a group of voltage-producing electric translating devices connected to be selectively energized by such selector switch from said source, and a plurality of electroresponsive devices each connected to a different combination of series-connected translating devices from a plurality of said groups and operative in response to a voltage exceeding that of one of said translating devices.

2. A selector relay system comprising a source of current, a plurality of selector switches, associated with each selector switch a group of voltage-producing electric translating devices connected to be selectively energized by such selector switch from said source, and a plurality of electroresponsive devices operative in response to a voltage'exceeding that of one of said translating devices, each of said electroresponsive devices being connected to a different combination of translating devices in series including an electric translating device from each of a plurality of said groups.

'3. A selector relay system comprising a source of alternating current, a plurality of selector switches, associated with each said selector switch a group of transformers connected to be selectively energized by such selector switch, each of said transformers being provided with a primary winding adapted to be energized from said source through its associated switch and with at least one secondary winding, and a plurality of electroresponsive devices each connected in series with a diiferent combination of a plurality of said secondary windings and operative only upon energization at a voltage exceeding the voltage of one of said secondary windings, each of-said combinations including a secondary winding from each of a plurality of said groups.

4. A selector relay system comprising a source of current, a plurality of selector switches, associated with each selector switch a group of voltage-producing electric translating devices connected to be selectively energized by such associatcd selector switch from said source, and a plurality of voltage-responsive devices, each con-' nected across a different combination of seriesconnected electric translating devices from a plurality of said groups, each of said combinations including an electric translating device from each of a plurality of said groups, each of said voltageresponsive devices being operative only upon ener- I of its associated electric translating devices.

v secondary winding, anda 5. A selector relay system comprising a source of alternating current, a plurality of selector switches, associated with each selector switch a group of transformers connected to be selectively energized by such associated selector switch, each of said transformers being provided with a primary winding adapted to be energized Irom said source through its associated switch and with a plurality of glow tubes, each connected across a different combination of a plurality of said secondary windings connected in series and having such characteristics that it breaks down only upon the occurrence of a voltage thereacross exceeding the voltage of one of said secondary windings, each of said combinations including a secondary winding from each of a plurality of said groups.

6. A selector relay system comprising a plurality of selector switches, associatedwith each of said switches a group of transformer primary windings connected to be selectively energized by such associated selector switch, transformer secondary windings inductively related to said pri-.

} mar-y windings, said secondary windings being serially connected in different groups, each group or secondary windings comprising secondary windings associated with primary windings, from a plurality of said groups of primary windings,- and electroresponsive means associated with each of 'said diflerent groups of secondary windings andoperative only upon energization at a voltage exceeding the voltage of one of said'secondary windings.

'7.'A selector. relay system comprising a source of current, a plurality of selector switches, associated with each selector switch a group of voltage-producing electric translating devices connected to be selectively energized by such associated selector switch from said source, a plurality of glow tubes, each connected to a different comblnation of series-connected translating devices from a plurality of said groups and operative in response to a voltage exceeding that or one of said translating valve relays, each provided with a control electrode and a control circuit, and a plurality of resistors equal in number to said valve relays, said glow tubes being divided into groups correspondmg in number to said resistors and valve relays, the tubes in each such group together with the translating devices in series with them being paralleled and the parallel combination being connected in series with one ofsaid resistors, each or said resistors being connected in a control circuit of one of said electric valves. I

ORRIN W. LIVINGSTON.

devices, a plurality of electric 

